The silence in the living room was suffocating. Max's words echoed off the elegant walls: "Making jewelry without authorization is a capital crime!"
Null stared at Max, his mind working rapidly. He knew the laws of this magic-centric world. Everything was tightly controlled by the upper echelons, especially the crafting of rare artifacts and jewelry. For an ordinary person to possess a ring belonging to a Council member was practically a death sentence.
Leo, however, just looked down at his hand, completely unfazed. To an isekai'd guy from Earth, a ring was just a piece of metal.
"Look, Max," Leo broke the silence, raising his hands peacefully. "I don't know anything about your Council or your jewelry laws. I didn't steal this, and I didn't buy it from some underground market. Like I said, a very important person gave it to me before I ended up here."
"And who exactly was this person?" Max demanded, crossing his arms. "Give me a name."
Leo opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. He couldn't exactly say, 'Oh, a literal god-like entity transferred my consciousness into a fantasy world and gave me a magical system called Chibi's Heart.' Max would think he was insane.
Instead, Leo sighed and muttered, "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
"See?" Max turned to Null. "He's hiding something."
"Max, drop it for a second," Null interrupted, his voice calm but firm. The physical exhaustion from injecting four syringes of magical energy was still weighing heavily on his muscles, but his mind was sharp. "Leo was fighting for his life alongside Lana and me in that underground complex. If he were a spy for the Council, he would have let that assassin kill us."
Lana stepped forward, nodding in agreement. "Null is right, Max. If it weren't for Leo's strange clones and his ability to distract the enemy, we wouldn't have made it out of there alive. He's not our enemy."
Max looked at Lana, then at Null, and finally back at Leo. He let out a long, frustrated breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine. For now, I will let it rest. But the High Council is actively watching this territory. If they spot that ring on your finger, Leo, it won't just be your problem—it will bring down my entire house."
"Got it. I'll keep it covered," Leo said. He slipped his hand into his pocket, out of sight.
Deep inside his pocket, Leo gently tapped the screen of his hidden phone. The screen lit up faintly. On the display, the tiny, animated pixel version of himself—Chibi Leo—was sitting cross-legged, looking back at him.
'Hey, Chibi,' Leo thought, communicating silently with his phone. 'What's the deal with this ring? Max says it belongs to the Council.'
A tiny text bubble popped up above Chibi Leo's head on the screen:
[Battery: 45%. Warning: The ring contains a high-level tracking enchantment linked to the World Creators' proxy network (The Council). However, because it is currently within a 2-meter radius of Null's 'Axiom', the tracking magic is completely neutralized and cannot transmit data.]
Leo felt a cold sweat break out on his neck. So the ring was a tracking device. The Council—or the Creators behind them—were using it to find him. The only reason they hadn't been discovered yet was because Null was sitting right next to him on the sofa. Within Null's 2-meter radius, the magical tracking spell literally ceased to exist because it defied real-world logic.
But Leo couldn't stay glued to Null's side forever. He needed to find a way to permanently disable the magic without breaking the ring.
Meanwhile, Null wasn't thinking about the ring. His mind was stuck on what had happened just minutes ago with Max's daughter.
"Max," Null spoke up, shifting the subject. "What was that thing Charlotte did earlier with the glass of water?"
Max blinked, surprised by the sudden change of topic. "Oh, that? She's just playing with minor elemental manipulation. Children of noble houses often manifest small magical tricks early on."
"No, not the magic," Null said, his eyes narrowing. "Think about it logically. She poured a whole glass of water on herself. Her clothes didn't get wet. The water hit the dirt, but the ground didn't get muddy or wet either. The water didn't just move—it completely disappeared without leaving a trace of moisture."
Lana frowned. "Isn't that just a standard vanishing spell?"
"In a science textbook, matter cannot be created or destroyed," Null explained, his voice dropping to a serious whisper. "Even if you evaporate water, it turns into vapor. If itaks into the soil, the soil becomes damp. But what Charlotte did... that water completely ceased to exist in this physical dimension. That's not just magic. That's a fundamental alteration of reality."
Null looked toward the window, watching Charlotte playing outside in the garden.
A chill ran down his spine. The World Creators—the five powerful entities who built this universe—controlled the rules of this world. If even a child's innocent 'magic' was completely rewriting the laws of physics and destroying matter, it meant the entire foundation of this fantasy world was a lie.
And Null's Axiom, which forced the universe to obey strict, real-world logic, was the ultimate threat to that lie.
Suddenly, a heavy, suffocating pressure washed over the entire mansion. The air grew freezing cold, and the sound of birds chirping in the garden instantly stopped.
Max gripped his chair, his face turning pale. "This presence... someone incredibly powerful has just entered the estate's barrier."